California court decision on same-sex marriage attracts interest

The California Supreme Court has received 45 such briefs from 145 different organisations hoping to persuade it to decide the case in their favour.

Still waiting for the California Supreme Court to declare whether or not marriage between people of the same sex is legal?

You may want to get comfortable, because recent comments from Chief Justice Ronald George suggest it could take a while.

George told the San Jose Mercury News earlier this week that the case currently before the court has attracted more “friend of the court” briefs than any other case in recent memory.

Specifically, the California Supreme Court has received 45 such briefs from 145 different organisations hoping to persuade it to decide the case in their favour.

“We have a lot of material before us,” the chief justice told the newspaper. “There is a vast amount of literature to read.”

George and his cohorts on the court took up the case last December, two months after an appellate court ruled that the state didn’t discriminate against gays and lesbians because they get the same rights by registering as domestic partners.

Although George told the San Jose Mercury News that the court expects to hear the case sometime next year, it is not on the court’s January calendar.